Carly Arnold-The Hands That Feed You

Carly Arnold grew up on a dairy farm in Truxton, NY where she was homeschooled (“unschooled“) by her parents. Her Grandma Arnold lived right down the hill and was a prolific baker, turning out pies and tins of tollhouse cookies. When Carly and her brother spent the day with her, she would often send them home with a quart of just-made soup in a mason jar–an image familiar to Three Stone Hearth customers! Carly’s Grandma Young was a 4-H leader who loved making biscuits from scratch and fresh fruit jams, and Carly loved helping both of them in the kitchen.

Carly and her brother spent much of their days exploring the 700 acres of woods and pastures of their parents’ farm, Twin Oaks Dairy, which they shared with about 64 milking Holsteins (as well as a few Brown Swiss and Jersey cows). Dinner conversations regularly included questions such as: “What pasture are we putting the heifers in next?” and “How’s Creamo doing after birthing her calf?” The Arnolds wholesale their milk to larger companies such as Organic Valley, Horizon, and Stonyfield Farm.

As much as she loved the farm, as Carly grew into adulthood she began to feel antsy and unfulfilled living in the country. She took some college classes but wanted to learn in a more experiential way. She interned at a vegetable farm, and then at the Center for Food Safety in Washington DC. There she had experiences ranging from fielding phone calls from farmers saying how Monsanto ruined their lives to dressing up as a cow to protest cloned milk on Capitol Hill. From there she moved to Philadelphia where she worked at an organic grocery delivery company and a café while beginning to dream of having her own business.

She and her boyfriend drove cross-country and sublet an apartment in North Oakland so that she could participate in the CCTP at Three Stone Hearth. Her dream is to move back to the East Coast and start a small fermented foods and broth business. Maybe she will even return to her hometown. There she could bring together the knowledge she’s gained out in the world with the wisdom (and the beef bones!) generated on her family’s beautiful farm.